Submitted by John Tippett
Safety Battalion Chief
Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service

Imagine this scenario: Two firefighters in a fire department somewhere in America are doing the morning check on their pumper. As the driver squats down to check the air in the rear wheels, his partner opens the compartment over the driver's head to check out the inventory. The compartment door springs open and a Gated Wye falls out, hitting the floor with a thud just to the left of the surprised driver.

"Hey Joe, sorry about that," says the partner.

"That would have ruined my day," Joe replies.

The lieutenant looks up from checking his SCBA and says, "Well, that was a near-miss. I'll talk to B Shift next time around." He goes back to adjusting his straps.

Two weeks later the same crew read an article about a small child who was killed when a piece of equipment fell from a responding engine in another part of the country. The three looked at each other and thought back to their experience in the engine room. The lieutenant realized that he never talked to B Shift, and the other two firefighters wondered if the crew of the responding engine company could have learned from what they had experienced weeks ago.

The answer to their question is "yes"; and one of the tools to get the word out is the website www.firefighternearmiss.com. This website is utilized by fire service professionals at all levels as a training and safety resource. Fire and emergency service personnel from across the country are logging on to the site to submit and read reports and to share information that might help a brother or sister in the service avoid a similar situation.

Since its launch in August 2005, www.firefighternearmiss.com has received and posted over 2,000 reports. These reports have come from firefighters and officers serving in fire department and EMS services. The reports are being used as learning tools and for training by firefighters and EMS personnel. As a special feature, there is even a Google search tool to help look for a specific topic. With this feature, you can enter a keyword to pull up reports in areas such as vehicle accidents, roof collapses, violent patients, and more. Feedback about the program has been very positive and the number of visitors has increased with each passing year.

Training materials and valuable information on subjects such as Crew Resources Management (CRM), Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), or Equipment Reports, are located in the www.firefighternearmiss.com Resources Section. The Near-Miss Calendar, Grouped Reports, Equipment Reports, and CRM & HFACS PowerPoint presentations are just a few examples of training tools available through the Firefighter Near-Miss Resources page.

The heart of the Firefighter Near-Miss program is helping firefighters go home through information exchange. This has forged a strong partnership between Firefighter Near Miss and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and Everyone Goes Home®. The program directly supports four of the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives (1, 7, 8 & 9) and indirectly supports 2, 3 & 4 through its mission and vision.

The mission, focus and drive behind the development, launch and success of www.firefighternearmiss.com are in no small part due to the support of National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Everyone Goes Home® State Advocates. The more open fire and emergency services are to information sharing about near-misses, and what they learned from them, the closer they are to getting every firefighter home at the end of their shift. Visit the website today. Submit your near-miss. Start using the system as a means to further the knowledge, skills and experience of your colleagues and members. Sign up for the periodic training bulletin "Report of the Week" by e-mailing nearmiss@iafc.org and putting "Subscribe-NFN" in the subject line. Do your part to help everyone go home.

John Tippett is a battalion chief for the Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service and a project manager for the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Tippett's 30-plus years of service include assignments in the Operations Division, the positions of Shift Deputy Safety Officer, Lead Instructor, Apparatus Specifications Committee co-chair, Safety Officer for Maryland Task Force 1 (FEMA USAR) and Task Force Leader for MD-TF1. His IAFC career includes: introducing Crew Resource Management to the Fire Service, Fire Prevention improvements in Native American Lands and the National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System.